Linguini with Garlic & Mushrooms

Linguini with Garlic & Mushrooms

Sometimes, all I need is a bowl of comforting pasta. I don’t even care what sauce/flavourings I have on it. I just want perfectly cooked pasta. Even something as simple as garlic-butter would be perfect. But alas, my family expect more of me than just garlic-butter spaghetti. So I have to compromise and give them something slightly more substantial but I still need it to be easy-peasy and no-fuss.

My family have come to expect a few Vegetarian meals from me a week. I don’t always do Meatless Monday but I do Meatless twice a week generally so I feel I make up for it. I have said it many times before and I’ll say it again. I know it’s hard to cook Vegetarian food for men (and women) who expect meat with every meal, but it’s amazing how filling and satisfying a Vegetarian meal can be. So that’s why I will keep hammering on about it until I get less complaints from so called “chicken-is-a-veg”-type people. Try ONE MAIN MEAL a week without meat. Just one. If you hate it, then fine, at least you tried it. But you have to give it a go. If you combine good quality, wholegrain carbs with fibre-rich vegetables, you are bound to be satisfied. And not only will your heart love you, your wallet will too. And if you need any inspiration, just click here. I know it’s daunting to go into the world of meatless cooking but if you have a few recipes up your sleeve, it will make it easier.

But back to this recipe. Even though I absolutely adore cooking, there are just nights when I can’t stand being in the kitchen. It’s too hot, I’m not feeling it and all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch Cake Boss. Pasta is perfect for night’s like that because, it’s so easy to rustle a sauce together which cooks in the same time as the pasta does. Enter Linguini with Garlic & Mushrooms. I added a touch of reduced fat cream to my sauce but if you don’t have it or you don’t want to add it then just reserve some of the pasta’s cooking water to loosen everything up a bit once combined. It’s really probably the easiest thing I’ve ever cooked and my family all loved it.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the linguini. Cook for +- 10 minutes until Al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, fry the mushrooms and leeks until all the liquid from the mushrooms have evaporated and the mushrooms have started to brown (+- 5-7 minutes). Add the garlic and fry for another minute.

Add the cream and lemon juice and season to taste.

Drain the linguini and toss through the sauce. Serve with extra cracked black pepper and a few Oregano leaves.

Being a general food freak has proven to be quite helpful in this career I've found myself in. Author of two cookbooks, photographer, food stylist. Mom to twins. Ex make-up and hair artist obsessed with beautiful clothes and spaces. I love a good G&T and I've been known to spend too much money on shoes.

I’m sorry to say that I am one of those “chicken is a veg” people. My husband always likes to say that he could very easily be vegetarian, but when I tried to introduce vegie dishes to our menu 4 times a week he complained! I was very surprised. Sometimes you just can’t win with these men…

Mushrooms are the perfect ingredient for vegetarian meals… my meatless monday’s always include mushrooms…. I find they fill you up and leave you satisfied like meat does. I love how simple this recipe is… in fact, it uses ingredients that I often have on hand. Thanks for sharing!
– Brittany

I cannot tell you how wonderful your recipes for mushrooms are. My husband and I have been shopping for all different kinds of mushrooms. We eat them almost every day either in a salad or just fried in butter on the side. They are so good for you and I thank you for the easy recipes that you send to my inbox. Thanks so much…..

This sounds like delicious, but like Alex, I’m wondering what fat you’ve used for the shrooms and leeks. Butter? Olive oil? It’s not as if we can’t wing it on our own of course, but curious minds need to know. I think either would be tasty.

Such a small list of ingredients for a delicious looking dish. I love garlic mushrooms.

I’d love for your to submit them to Vegolicious, a vegetarian food photo gallery where readers can browse beautiful photos to discover new recipes and wonderful blogs. If you would like to share this recipe with our readers please submit a photo along with a link to this post.

excellent flavour of the portebellini mushrooms. However in following the order I found the leeks took less time to cook than the mushrooms and became mushy. Also there was very little sauce in the end for the pasta. I would recommend adding more cream and butter to make it a more creamy consistency.

Heather, you’ll see in the photo that the pasta isn’t heavily coated with sauce, which was intentional. I am the type of person who really loves a lot of sauce on my pasta but sometimes I like it *just* coated so that the pasta is lighter but still flavourful. Glad you tried the recipe and liked it.

I made this for dinner tonight. IT WAS SOOO SIMPLE AND DELICIOUS. I didn’t have leeks, so instead I used green onions and basil leaves. I also added Parmesan cheese.
This was so simple. This recipes reminds of several fancy dishes you could order at a restaurant. I will definitely be making this again!

Just made this for a Saturday lunch, left out cream and added a little corn, no leeks so used red onion and a little less lemon juice than indicated. My hubby ate the entire thing, so easy and totally interchangeable with other veggies. Also, at the end added a little red pepper just to spice up my metabolism. This will become a top ten recipe in my house!